The restaurant and food industry makes widespread use of collapsible, disposable containers for serving ready to eat portions of foods such as French fries. Typically, a serving container is formed from a cardboard blank, which can be at least partially assembled, pre-folded and shipped to the customer in a flattened pre-assembled or partially assembled form. The flattened container may be opened on-site (for example, at a restaurant or the like) to form an open-topped serving container which can be filled with a serving of food or other product. In most cases, further assembly of the container is not required apart from opening the container from a flattened and folded form into a three-dimensional container. Single-serve containers are typically fabricated from a semi-rigid material such as cardboard, which may be coated with a waterproof or water resistant coating on one or both sides.
A convenient configuration for a preformed open-topped container of this type is one that is generally rectangular with a tapered configuration to permit stacking of opened containers, both before these are filled with food portion and for disposal after use. The open top permits filling of the container from above and also for food to be easily removed from the container by the consumer.
Certain food articles such as French fries are typically served with a condiment such as ketchup. Condiments are often added directly to the foodstuff within the container. However, this can lead to leakage, sogginess and other problems. It is often preferable to provide the condiment separately to allow the consumer to dip pieces one at a time. However, providing a condiment in a separate cup is also problematic. It has been proposed to integrate a small condiment cup or similar holder with a larger food container, such that both the primary food article and the condiment may be served to the consumer in a single container unit. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 8,505,807 to Herman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,333 to Gonzalez et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,946 to Cai.